Can twins have different birthdays?

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Yes! Twins are defined as children produced in the same pregnancy. Usually they are delivered only a few minutes or hours apart. But they can have different birthdays.

This most commonly happens when labor and delivery begins before midnight on one day and ends after the clock changes to the next day. If that day happens at the end of the month, or even on New Year’s Eve/Day, the two babies can have birthdays in different months and even different years!

Sometimes a twin pregnancy is prolonged to provide each baby with the best chance for survival. If one baby has to be delivered prematurely, doctors can often stop the labor and delay delivery to give the other baby more time in the womb to grow and develop. Twins have been born days and even weeks apart!

Recently, a pair of twins in Ireland set the world record for “longest interval between birth of twins,” at 87 days. For more, click here.